Flight Over Battle

“Flight Over Battle” is an a cappella choral work for female voices (SSAA), composed by Behzad Habibzai in 2019. In the recording that was released this year, I sang all four vocal parts. I come from a choral background, singing in choirs from a young age, and eventually singing professionally in choral ensembles, military choirs and musical organizations in Washington, DC. Behzad also grew up singing in the Southern Maine Children’s Choir, as well as Portland High School choir, participating in many musicals in Portland as a teen. Behzad wrote this piece completely independently, and I didn’t alter a single note or dynamic. We recorded “Flight Over Battle” at our home studio in January, the coldest month of the year, at night, and while our infant daughter was sleeping. We had also just moved to the Northeast. This piece was inspired by scenes in epic films when there is complete chaos, fighting, desperation, and all hope seems lost. Then, everything goes silent; a single voice of clarity rings out, pure and soothing, as if from another place. An example of this is the eagles rescuing Frodo from the fires of Mount Doom, after releasing the Ring of Power into the molten lava. He is beyond exhaustion, but his part of the battle is complete. He rests knowing that his job is done but he is changed forever by what he saw and experienced. The battle will continue another day soon, but there was a moment of peace and clarity which this music evokes.

We had no idea what would happen to the world just over a year later after we made this recording.

When the lockdown began in March of 2020 in the U.S., any plans of collaborating musically with others in our city changed dramatically. Live performances were canceled that we had hoped to do that spring and summer, and venues everywhere were closed to the public for over a year. Our daughter didn’t experience simple things like visits to the library, kids’ theater shows, outdoor concerts, or playgroups for children her age. Despite all that, we were grateful to have each other and the friendships we maintained during this ordeal.

However, as the world slowly emerged from this exhausting and harrowing period of time, the situation in Afghanistan escalated in the fall of 2021. Our family was directly affected emotionally with the news of relatives unable to leave the country, and the suffering and disparaging there. We felt, and continue to feel, the struggle to directly help those in Afghanistan. We contributed locally to non-profit organizations welcoming asylum seekers, in an attempt to help those who were able to leave before it became impossible.

As people were running toward the planes taking off, leaving the chaos below, I remembered "Flight Over Battle", and the depth of empty sorrow I felt in moments during such a devastating time in Afghanistan.

Six months later, I received an email from my sister, a missionary nun in far-eastern Russia. She had just landed there as the conflict in Ukraine escalated from a threat to an all-out attack. Our entire network of family and friends held our breath as she quickly made plans to leave Russia and return to the U.S. while the war in Ukraine increased in intensity by the hour. She managed to get a flight through Moscow and back to the U.S., just before Mariupol was brutally bombed. We were all incredibly grateful and relieved when we heard she was back on our shores and safe, after nearly three days of traveling in the air.

Again, “Flight Over Battle” rang in my ears as I envisioned safe passage for her over the fighting below the plane’s wing, a full moon shining above the darkened clouds of war.

We never know the impact of a piece of music; what it will mean to others, or even give voice to their pain. The depth of emotion evoked by “Flight Over Battle” predicted what we would feel one, two, three years later after it was created. Listeners, some complete strangers, have told us that they meditate to the harmonies, they breathe to the sounds of the voices, and they find solace in its dissonance.

The score and recording are available here and in the Listen section on this site (scroll down).